Payment method, apparatus and device

ABSTRACT

A payment method, apparatus, and device are provided. The method includes: determining, according to geographical location information of a user, a third-party payment institute corresponding to the user&#39;s location, obtaining, through a payment server, a payment account of the third-party payment institute compatible for a local transaction, and scanning a barcode to complete a payment using the payment account. During the payment process, a DOI including information of the payment account is presented to a merchant, and the merchant extracts the payment account therein, and forwards order information and the payment account to the third-party payment institute. The third-party payment institute identifies the payment account and forwards the same to the payment server. The payment server identifies a user identity corresponding to the payment account, and then completes the payment process.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/903,210, filed on Jun. 16, 2020, which is basedon and claims priority to International Patent Application No.PCT/CN2019/070779, filed on Jan. 8, 2019. International PatentApplication No. PCT/CN2019/070779 is based on and claims priority of theChinese Patent Application No. 201810029073.1, filed on Jan. 12, 2018.All of the above-referenced applications are incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates to the field of computer technologies, and inparticular, to a payment method, apparatus, and device.

BACKGROUND

With the popularization of mobile payment, payment through code scanningis increasingly widely used.

In conventional technologies, a payment system may frequently cooperatewith local third-party payment institutes to complete a payment.However, many third-party payment institutes (e.g., a foreign creditcard company) cannot extract contents included in a digital objectidentifier (DOI) provided by a user due to incompatible system, and itis virtually impossible to modify existing infrastructures of thethird-party payment institute to reconcile with the payment system.Thus, it is inconvenient or impossible for a user to complete a paymentprocess in these scenarios.

In view of the limitations of conventional technologies, a moreconvenient payment solution is desired.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of this specification provide a payment method, apparatus,and device to resolve problems below, so as to provide a more convenientpayment solution.

Based on this, this specification provides a payment method, including:determining a third-party payment institute; initiating, to a server, arequest for acquiring a payment account, the payment account beingrelated to the third-party payment institute, and the request includinginformation about the third-party payment institute; and receiving apayment account returned by the server, the payment account beingassigned to the server by the third-party payment institute.

In addition, this specification further provides a payment method,including: receiving a request for acquiring a payment account sent by aclient, the payment account being related to a third-party paymentinstitute, and the request including a user identity and informationabout the third-party payment institute; sending, to the third-partypayment institute, the request for acquiring the payment account;receiving a payment account returned by the third-party paymentinstitute; establishing a correspondence between the payment account andthe user identity, and storing the correspondence; and sending thepayment account to the client.

In addition, this specification further provides a payment method,including: acquiring a payment account, the payment account beingrelated to a third-party payment institute; generating a digital objectidentifier (DOI) including payment account information; and presentingthe DOI, for a merchant to perform scanning to acquire the paymentaccount information.

In addition, this specification further provides a payment method,including: scanning a digital object identifier (DOI) including paymentaccount information, a payment account being related to a third-partypayment institute; acquiring the payment account information; andgenerating, to the third-party payment institute, a payment requestincluding the payment account information and order information, for thethird-party payment institute to identify the payment account andforward the payment request to a server.

In addition, this specification further provides a payment method,including: receiving a payment request including payment accountinformation and order information and sent by a third-party paymentinstitute, the payment account being related to the third-party paymentinstitute; determining a corresponding user identity according to thepayment account information; and performing payment processing on theorder information according to the user identity.

In addition, this specification further provides a payment apparatus,including: a determining module configured to determine a third-partypayment institute; a request initiating module configured to initiate,to a server, a request for acquiring a payment account, the paymentaccount being related to the third-party payment institute, and therequest including information about the third-party payment institute;and a receiving module configured to receive a payment account returnedby the server, the payment account being assigned to the server by thethird-party payment institute.

In addition, this specification further provides a second paymentapparatus, including: a receiving module configured to receive a requestfor acquiring a payment account sent by a client, the payment accountbeing related to a third-party payment institute, and the requestincluding a user identity and information about the third-party paymentinstitute; a sending module configured to send, to the third-partypayment institute, the request for acquiring the payment account; thereceiving module being further configured to receive a payment accountreturned by the third-party payment institute; and an establishing andstorage module configured to establish a correspondence between thepayment account and the user identity, and store the correspondence; thesending module being further configured to send the payment account tothe client.

In addition, this specification further provides still another paymentapparatus, including: an acquiring module configured to acquire apayment account, the payment account being related to a third-partypayment institute; a generating module configured to generate a digitalobject identifier (DOI) including the payment account information; and apresenting module configured to present the DOI, for a merchant toperform scanning to acquire the payment account information.

In addition, this specification further provides a fourth paymentapparatus, including: a scanning module configured to scan a digitalobject identifier (DOI) including payment account information, thepayment account being related to a third-party payment institute; anacquiring module configured to acquire the payment account information;and a generating module configured to generate, to the third-partypayment institute, a payment request including the payment accountinformation and order information, for the third-party payment instituteto identify the payment account and forward the payment request to aserver.

In addition, this specification further provides a fifth paymentapparatus, including: a receiving module configured to receive a paymentrequest including payment account information and order information andsent by a third-party payment institute, the payment account beingrelated to the third-party payment institute; a determining moduleconfigured to determine a corresponding user identity according to thepayment account information; and a payment processing module configuredto perform payment processing according to the user identity.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a payment device,including: a memory configured to store a payment program; a processorconfigured to invoke the payment program in the memory and perform thefollowing: determining a third-party payment institute; initiating, to aserver, a request for acquiring a payment account, the payment accountbeing related to the third-party payment institute, and the requestincluding information about the third-party payment institute; andreceiving a payment account returned by the server, the payment accountbeing assigned to the server by the third-party payment institute.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides another paymentdevice, including: a memory configured to store a payment program; aprocessor configured to invoke the payment program in the memory andperform the following: receiving a request for acquiring a paymentaccount sent by a client, the payment account being related to athird-party payment institute, and the request including a user identityand information about the third-party payment institute; sending, to thethird-party payment institute, the request for acquiring the paymentaccount; receiving a payment account returned by the third-party paymentinstitute; establishing a correspondence between the payment account andthe user identity, and storing the correspondence; and sending thepayment account to the client.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides still anotherpayment device, including: a memory configured to store a paymentprogram; a processor configured to invoke the payment program in thememory and perform the following: acquiring a payment account, thepayment account being related to a third-party payment institute;generating a digital object identifier (DOI) including payment accountinformation; and presenting the DOI, for a merchant to perform scanningto acquire the payment account information.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a fourth paymentdevice, including: a memory configured to store a payment program; aprocessor configured to invoke the payment program in the memory andperform the following: scanning a digital object identifier (DOI)including payment account information, a payment account being relatedto a third-party payment institute; acquiring the payment accountinformation; and generating, for the third-party payment institute, apayment request including the payment account information and orderinformation, for the third-party payment institute to identify thepayment account and forward the payment request to a server.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a fifth paymentdevice, including: a memory configured to store a payment program; aprocessor configured to invoke the payment program in the memory andperform the following: receiving a payment request including paymentaccount information and order information and sent by a third-partypayment institute, the payment account being related to the third-partypayment institute; determining a corresponding user identity accordingto the payment account information; and performing payment processingaccording to the user identity.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a non-transitorycomputer storage medium storing computer-executable instructions, thecomputer-executable instructions being executable to perform thefollowing: determining a third-party payment institute; initiating, to aserver, a request for acquiring a payment account, the payment accountbeing related to the third-party payment institute, and the requestincluding information about the third-party payment institute; andreceiving a payment account returned by the server, the payment accountbeing assigned to the server by the third-party payment institute.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides anothernon-transitory computer storage medium storing computer-executableinstructions, the computer-executable instructions being executable toperform the following: receiving a request for acquiring a paymentaccount sent by a client, the payment account being related to athird-party payment institute, and the request including a user identityand information about the third-party payment institute; sending, to thethird-party payment institute, the request for acquiring the paymentaccount; receiving a payment account returned by the third-party paymentinstitute; establishing a correspondence between the payment account andthe user identity, and storing the correspondence; and sending thepayment account to the client.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides still anothernon-transitory computer storage medium storing a computer-executableinstructions, the computer-executable instructions being executable toperform the following: acquiring a payment account, the payment accountbeing related to a third-party payment institute; generating a digitalobject identifier (DOI) including payment account information; andpresenting the DOI, for a merchant to perform scanning to acquire thepayment account information.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a fourthnon-transitory computer storage medium storing computer-executableinstructions, the computer-executable instructions being executable toperform the following: scanning a digital object identifier (DOI)including payment account information, a payment account being relatedto a third-party payment institute; acquiring the payment accountinformation; and generating, to the third-party payment institute, apayment request including the payment account information and orderinformation, for the third-party payment institute to identify thepayment account and forward the payment request to a server.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a fifthnon-transitory computer storage medium storing computer-executableinstructions, the computer-executable instructions being executable toperform the following: receiving a payment request including paymentaccount information and order information and sent by a third-partypayment institute, the payment account being related to the third-partypayment institute; determining a corresponding user identity accordingto the payment account information; and performing payment processingaccording to the user identity.

Additionally, this specification further provides a payment method. Themethod may include: receiving, by a server, from a client terminal, arequest for acquiring a payment account for a transaction, the paymentaccount being associated with a third-party payment institute, and therequest including identity information of a user and information aboutthe third-party payment institute; sending, by the server, to thethird-party payment institute, the request for acquiring the paymentaccount; receiving, by the server, from the third-party paymentinstitute, a payment account; establishing, by the server, acorrespondence between the payment account and the identity informationof the user, and storing the correspondence; and sending, by the server,to the client terminal, the payment account to cause the client terminalto generate a digital object identifier (DOI) including information ofthe payment account. The DOI may be a 2-dimensional (2-D) quick responsecode (QR code), and the information of the payment account in the DOImay be extractable by a merchant by scanning the DOI using a scanningdevice to complete the transaction.

Additionally, this specification further provides a payment apparatus.The payment apparatus may include a processor and a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory coupled to the processor and configured withinstructions executable by the processor to: receive, from a clientterminal, a request for acquiring a payment account for a transaction,the payment account being associated with a third-party paymentinstitute, and the request including identity information of a user andinformation about the third-party payment institute; send, to thethird-party payment institute, the request for acquiring the paymentaccount; receive, from the third-party payment institute, a paymentaccount; establish a correspondence between the payment account and theidentity information of the user, and store the correspondence; and sendthe payment account to a client terminal to cause the client terminal togenerate a digital object identifier (DOI) including information of thepayment account. The DOI may be a 2-dimensional (2-D) quick responsecode (QR code), and the information of the payment account in the DOImay be extractable by a merchant by scanning the DOI using a scanningdevice to complete the transaction.

Additionally, this specification further provides a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium. The medium may have instructionsstored thereon executable by a processor to cause the processor toperform operations, including: receiving, from a client terminal, arequest for acquiring a payment account for a transaction, the paymentaccount being associated with a third-party payment institute, and therequest including identity information of a user and information aboutthe third-party payment institute; sending, to the third-party paymentinstitute, the request for acquiring the payment account; receiving,from the third-party payment institute, a payment account; establishinga correspondence between the payment account and the identityinformation of the user, and storing the correspondence; and sending, tothe client terminal, the payment account to cause the client terminal togenerate a digital object identifier (DOI) including information of thepayment account. The DOI may be a 2-dimensional (2-D) quick responsecode (QR code), and the information of the payment account in the DOImay be extractable by a merchant by scanning the DOI using a scanningdevice to complete the transaction.

At least one of the foregoing technical solutions adopted in someembodiments of this description can achieve the following beneficialeffects.

A user may determine, according to geographical location information ofthe user, a third-party payment institute corresponding to a localplace, then obtain a payment account provided by the third-party paymentinstitute usable in local transactions through a payment server. Throughbarcode scanning, the payment account of the third-party paymentinstitute may be used to completed a transaction. During the paymentprocess, a DOI including information of the payment account may bepresented to a merchant, and the merchant may extract the paymentaccount therein and forward order information and the payment account tothe third-party payment institute. The third-party payment institute mayidentify the payment account and, upon a successful identification,forward the same to the payment server. The payment server may identifya user identity corresponding to the payment account, and performpayment process. Therefore, user information may be combined with cardinformation identifiable by an existing third-party payment institute inother countries and regions. Thus convenient payment-through-scanningscheme may be implemented in foreign countries and regions, therebyimproving user experience.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a process of acquiring a payment account of a third-partypayment institute by a client, according to an embodiment of thisspecification.

FIG. 2 is a process of acquiring a payment account of a third-partypayment institute by a server, according to an embodiment of thisspecification.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a process of acquiring a paymentaccount associated with a third-party payment institute by a user,according to an embodiment of this specification.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a payment process for a client,according to an embodiment of this specification.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a payment process for a merchant,according to an embodiment of this specification.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a payment process for a server,according to an embodiment of this specification.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a payment process using a paymentaccount of a third-party payment institute, according to an embodimentof this specification.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a payment apparatus, according to anembodiment of this specification.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a second payment apparatus, accordingto an embodiment of this specification.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a third payment apparatus, accordingto an embodiment of this specification.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a fourth payment apparatus, accordingto an embodiment of this specification.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of a fifth payment apparatus, accordingto an embodiment of this specification.

DETAIL DESCRIPTION OF SOME EMBODIMENTS

To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of thisspecification clearer, the following clearly and completely describesthe technical solutions of this specification with reference to specificembodiments of this specification and accompanying drawings. Apparently,the described embodiments are only some embodiments rather than allembodiments of this specification. All other embodiments obtained by aperson of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments in thisspecification without creative effects shall fall within the protectionscope of this specification.

Currently, it is very common in the payment field to make a paymentusing a digital object identifier (DOI) that includes user information,such as various payment barcodes and 2-dimensional (2D) payment QRcodes. The QR code may also be referred to as “quick response code” andhas a plurality of standards, such as Code 16K, Code 49, PDF417, andMicroPDF417.

However, in some regions (such as most foreign regions), localthird-party payment institutes usually cannot extract the information ina QR code. In other words, even if a merchant scans and parses the QRcode by using a code scanning device and obtains contents in the QRcode, a third-party payment institute (e.g., a credit card paymentinstitute) cannot extract the information in the contents, and thusunable to process the payment. That causes inconvenience for persons whotemporarily travel aboard for a short period of time (e.g., personstravel for vacations, academic visits, and transit).

In view of this limitation, this specification provides a paymentsolution. In the payment solution of this specification, userinformation may be combined with card information identifiable by anexisting third-party payment institute in foreign countries and regions,so that convenient payment-through-scanning scheme may be implemented.

In some embodiments of this specification, the payment solution providedherein may include two parts. The first part is a process in which auser obtains a payment account associated with a third-party paymentinstitute, and the second part is a process in which the user makes apayment using the payment account. These two parts do not necessarilyneed to be completely separated. In some scenarios, the two parts mayalso be jointly implemented to complete a payment.

The first part of the payment solution provided according to anembodiment of this specification is described in details below. Thispart may include a client aspect and a server aspect. The client aspectis shown in FIG. 1 . FIG. 1 is a process of acquiring a payment accountof a third-party payment institute by a client, according to anembodiment of this specification. In this specification, the term“client” may refer to a hardware device used by a user (i.e., a clientterminal).

Referring to FIG. 1 , the process may include the following steps.

In step S101, a third-party payment institute may be determined.

In some embodiments, the third-party payment institute may be explicitlydetermined. That is, the client may directly provide several third-partypayment institutes to a user for selection. In some embodiments, thethird-party payment institute may be implicitly determined. That is, thedetermination may be automatically performed in the background. Thethird-party payment institute herein may include an order collectioninstitute, a payment platform, and a bank associated with the paymentplatform, etc.

In step S103, a request for acquiring a payment account may be sent tothe server. The payment account may be associated with the third-partypayment institute, and the request may include information about thethird-party payment institute.

The payment account herein may be used for a transaction and may usuallybe a card number, which may also be referred to as a primary accountnumber (PAN). The PAN may belong to the third-party payment instituteitself. For example, the third-party payment institute itself may be abank, and is capable of performing payment service through bank cards.The PAN may also be assigned by a partner of the third-party paymentinstitute. For example, the third-party payment institute may include anorder collection institute receiving orders, and forwarding, accordingto card numbers, the orders to corresponding banks for paymentprocessing. That is, the PAN may be issued by a bank in the third-partypayment institute. In addition, since the PAN issuer (i.e., the bank)may have a business relationship with the payment system, the paymentaccount (i.e., the PAN) may be recognized to be corresponding to thepayment system. Specific implementations may be determined based onbusiness types of the third-party institution, and is not limitedherein. When a request is sent, a user identity (i.e., identificationinformation of a user) should be included in the request for the serverto identify a corresponding account.

In step S105, a payment account returned by the server may be received.The payment account may be assigned to the server by the third-partypayment institute.

Generally, the server by itself has no authority to assign the paymentaccount of the third-party payment institute. The server may need tosubmit a corresponding application to the third-party payment instituteaccording to the request. After receiving the payment account assignedby the third-party payment institute, the server may return the paymentaccount to the client. In some embodiments, the server may have beenpreviously assigned, through the third-party payment institute, a batchof payment accounts, which may be stored in the server, and the servermay directly assign a locally stored payment account to the client.

In some embodiments, in step S101, the determining a third-party paymentinstitute may include: acquiring a geographical location of the user;determining a payment institute related to the geographical location ofthe user; and designating the payment institute related to thegeographical location of the user as the third-party payment institute.

In particular, a client may pre-store corresponding information of thethird-party payment institutes and the geographical locations on a localterminal. After the user arrives at a specific geographical location, athird-party payment institute corresponding to this geographicallocation may be determined accordingly, and a corresponding applicationmay be submitted to third-party payment institute by the server. In thisprocess, the client may determine a user location by acquiring thelocation of the client in real time without requiring an input from theuser. The entire location determination and application process may notbe perceptible by the user, which improves user experience.

In some embodiments, in step S101, the determining a third-party paymentinstitute may further include: receiving a user instruction, anddetermining the third-party payment institute according to the userinstruction.

In other words, the client may explicitly provide a list of availablethird-party payment institutes to the user for selection. For example, alist of several countries, such as USA, Japan, Malaysia, may first beprovided to the user for selection. After a specific country isselected, available third-party payment institutes (e.g., A, B, or C) inthat country may be further provided to the user for selection. Thisprocess may be performed by the user in advance instead of at the timeof payment. For example, if the user plans to travel to the UnitedStates in one week, the user may determine a corresponding third-partypayment institute in the United States before arriving the United Statesand send a payment account application to a server for future payment.

In some embodiments, after the client acquires a payment account throughthe foregoing process, the method may further include: storing thepayment account locally.

In particularly, a payment account request from a server may be arequest made at the time of a payment, and the payment account may beobtained from a third-party payment institute to complete a one-timepayment. For convenience in future payments, the client may store thepayment account for making future payments through the third-partypayment institute.

FIG. 2 is a process of acquiring a payment account of a third-partypayment institute by a server, according to an embodiment of thisspecification.

Referring to FIG. 2 , in step S201, a request for acquiring a paymentaccount sent by a client may be received. The payment account may beassociated with a third-party payment institute, and the request mayinclude a user identity and information about the third-party paymentinstitute.

In step S203, the request for acquiring the payment account may be sentto the third-party payment institute.

In step S205, a payment account returned by the third-party paymentinstitute may be received.

In step S207, a correspondence between the payment account and the useridentity may be established, and stored.

In step S209, the payment account may be sent to the client.

Specific steps of this process are shown in FIG. 3 . FIG. 3 is aschematic diagram of a process of acquiring a payment account related toa third-party payment institute by a user, according to an embodiment ofthis specification. In the schematic diagram, a gift card PAN providedby a third-party payment institute B in a country A is used as anexample. Referring to FIG. 3 , the process may include the followingsteps.

In step S301, a user may open a client in country A.

In step S303, the client may detect that a geographical location of theuser is country A, and determine that a corresponding third-partypayment institute is payment institute B.

In step S305, the client may apply to a server for a gift card PAN ofthe payment institute B.

In step S307, the server may apply for one gift card PAN to the paymentinstitute B.

In step S309, the payment institute B may assign one gift card PAN tothe server.

In step S311, the server may bind the gift card PAN with a user accountand store the binding on the server.

In step S313, the server may send the gift card PAN to the client.

In step S315, the client may receive and store the gift card PAN.

It should be noted that in the foregoing example, the third-partypayment institute is determined based on the geographic location of theuser by the client. In actual applications, this determination may alsobe conducted by the server, details implementation of which will bedescribed below.

First, the client may determine a geographical location of the client,and send, to the server, a request for applying for a third-partypayment account with the geographical location. Then, the server maydetermine a corresponding third-party payment institute according to thegeographical location, and then apply for a payment account to thethird-party payment institute. Upon an approval of the application forthe payment account, the server may bind a user identity to the obtainedpayment account and forward the payment account to the client.

A payment process the user may make using the payment account mayinclude three aspects: a user client aspect, a merchant aspect, and aserver aspect. The user client aspect of the payment process is shown inFIG. 4 . FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a payment process for aclient, according to an embodiment of this specification.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the payment process may include the followingsteps.

In step S401, a payment account may be acquired. The payment account maybe associated with a third-party payment institute.

The payment account associated with the third-party payment institutemay be acquired from a local terminal, or may be obtained by sending anon-the-spot application to the server. The payment account obtained fromthe local terminal is generally obtained by the user in advance throughan application based on the geographical location.

In step S403, a digital object identifier (DOI) including theinformation of the payment account may be generated.

In this step, the information of the payment account may be expressed inan extensible markup language (xml) format or other formats, and then acharacter string of the xml format or other formats may be converted tothe DOI.

In step S405, the DOI may be presented to a merchant for the merchant toperform scanning to acquire the information of the payment account.

As previously described, in some embodiments, in step S401, the paymentaccount may be acquired by sending an on-the-spot application to theserver according to a geographical location of the user. Morespecifically, this step may include: acquiring a geographical locationof a user; determining a third-party payment institute related to thegeographical location of the user; submitting, to the server, a requestfor acquiring a payment account, for the server to send, to thethird-party payment institute, a request for the payment account; andreceiving a payment account returned by the server and assigned by thethird-party payment institute.

The merchant aspect of the payment process is shown in FIG. 5 . FIG. 5is a schematic flowchart of a payment process for a merchant, accordingto an embodiment of this specification. The process may include thefollowing steps. In this specification, the term “merchant” may morespecifically mean a computer device (i.e., a merchant terminal) that isused to complete a transaction.

In step S501, a digital object identifier (DOI) including information ofthe payment account may be scanned. The payment account may beassociated with a third-party payment institute.

In step S503, the information of the payment account may be acquired.

In step S505, a payment request including the information of the paymentaccount and order information may be generated and sent to thethird-party payment institute, for the third-party payment institute toidentify the payment account and forward the payment request to theserver.

In particular, the merchant may acquire contents in DOI through ascanning device, but the third-party payment institute may only identifythe information of the payment account in the DOI (since only theinformation of the payment account is associated with the third-partypayment institute). Therefore, during a payment process, afteridentifying the payment account, the third-party payment institute mayforward the payment request to the server to process the payment. Theorder information may include specific information such as an ID of themerchant, an order amount, an order time, and an order number, etc.

It should be noted that, before forwarding of the payment request to theserver by the third-party payment institute, some other processesrelated to the third-party payment institute may be further included.For example, the payment account may be sent to a corresponding openingbank for identification and verification. Upon a successfulidentification and verification, the opening bank may forward thepayment request to the server for payment. Specific details may beclosely related to system infrastructure of the third-party paymentinstitute, and are not extensively listed herein for the sake ofconciseness. Eventually, the third-party payment institute may identifythat the payment account is related to the server, and forward thepayment account and order information to the server.

The server aspect of the payment process is shown in FIG. 6 . FIG. 6 isa schematic flowchart of a payment process for a server, according to anembodiment of this specification. The process may include the followingsteps.

In step S601, a payment request including information of the paymentaccount and order information sent by a third-party payment institutemay be received. The payment account may be associated with thethird-party payment institute.

In step S603, a corresponding user identity may be determined accordingto the information of the payment account.

In step S605, a payment process may be conducted on the orderinformation according to the user identity.

The payment process generally refers to a transfer of monetary balancefrom an account corresponding to the user identity to an account of amerchant. After the payment process is completed, it is usuallynecessary to send a notification message to the third-party paymentinstitute, which may forward the notification message to the merchant.An example that includes an order collection institute C, a gift cardpayment platform D, and an opening bank E will be used to describe theforegoing payment process. In this example, a third-party paymentinstitute may include the order collection institute C, the gift cardpayment platform D, and the opening bank E, as shown in FIG. 7 . FIG. 7is a schematic diagram of a payment process using a payment account of athird-party payment institute, according to an embodiment of thisspecification. The process may include the following steps.

In step S701, a user may present a to-be-purchased commodity to amerchant.

In step S703, a cashier may scan the commodity.

In step S705, the cashier may present a price of the commodity to theuser.

In step S707, the user may open a client.

In step S709, the client may generate a QR code including gift cardinformation.

In step S711, the cashier may scan the QR code.

In step S713, the cash register may read the QR code and extract a giftcard PAN in the QR code.

In step S715, the cash register may send order information and the giftcard PAN to an order collection institute C. The order collectioninstitute C may determine that it is a gift card, and forward therequest to a payment platform D. The payment platform D may contact acard issuer E. The card issuer E may determine that the card belongs tothe server and forward the request to the server.

In step S717, the server may obtain a corresponding user accountaccording to the gift card PAN.

In step S719, the server may process the payment.

In step S721, the server may return a result to a third-party paymentinstitute, and eventually to the cash register of the merchant.

In step S723, the transaction may complete.

Based on a same idea, this specification further provides a paymentapparatus as shown in FIG. 8 . FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of apayment apparatus, according to an embodiment of this specification. Theapparatus may include a determining module 801, a request initiatingmodule 803, and a receiving module 805.

The determining module 801 may be configured to determine a third-partypayment institute.

The request initiating module 803 may be configured to send, to aserver, a request for acquiring a payment account. The payment accountmay be associated with the third-party payment institute, and therequest may include information about the third-party payment institute.

The receiving module 805 may be configured to receive a payment accountreturned by the server. The payment account may be assigned to theserver by the third-party payment institute.

Further, the determining module 801 may be configured to acquire ageographical location of a user; determine a payment institute relatedto the geographical location of the user; and designate a paymentinstitute related to the geographical location of the user as thethird-party payment institute.

Further, the determining module 801 may be configured to receive a userinstruction, and determine the third-party payment institute accordingto the user instruction.

Further, the apparatus may further include a storage module 807configured to store the payment account locally.

In addition, this specification further provides a second paymentapparatus as shown in FIG. 9 . FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of thesecond payment apparatus, according to an embodiment of thisspecification. The apparatus may include a receiving module 901, asending module 903, and a establishing and storage module 905.

The receiving module 901 may be configured to receive a request foracquiring a payment account sent by a client. The payment account may beassociated with a third-party payment institute, and the request mayinclude a user identity and information about the third-party paymentinstitute.

The receiving module 901 may be further configured to receive a paymentaccount returned by the third-party payment institute.

The sending module 903 may be configured to send, to the third-partypayment institute, the request for acquiring the payment account.

The establishing and storage module 905 may be configured to establish acorrespondence between the payment account and the user identity, andstore the correspondence.

The sending module 903 may be further configured to send the paymentaccount to the client.

This specification further provides a third payment apparatus as shownin FIG. 10 . FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the third paymentapparatus, according to an embodiment of this specification. Theapparatus may include an acquiring module 1001, a generating module1002, and a presenting module 1003.

The acquiring module 1001 may be configured to acquire a paymentaccount. The payment account may be associated with a third-partypayment institute.

The generating module 1002 may be configured to generate a digitalobject identifier (DOI) including the information of the paymentaccount.

The presenting module 1003 may be configured to present the DOI, for amerchant to perform code scanning to acquire the information of thepayment account.

Further, the acquiring module 1001 may be configured to acquire ageographical location of a user; determine a third party paymentinstitute related to the geographical location of the user; send arequest for acquiring the payment account to the server, for the serverto send, to the third-party payment institute, a request for the paymentaccount; and receive a payment account returned by the server andassigned by the third-party payment institute.

Further, the acquiring module 1001 may be configured to acquire apayment account pre-stored locally and associated with the third-partypayment institute.

Additionally, this specification further provides a fourth paymentapparatus as shown in FIG. 11 . FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of thefourth payment apparatus, according to an embodiment of thisspecification. The apparatus may include a scanning module 1101, anacquiring module 1103, and a generating module 1105.

The scanning module 1101 may be configured to scan a digital objectidentifier (DOI) including information of a payment account. The paymentaccount may be associated with a third-party payment institute.

The acquiring module 1103 may be configured to acquire the paymentaccount information.

The generating module 1105 may be configured to generate a paymentrequest including the information of the payment account and orderinformation and send the payment request to the third-party paymentinstitute, for the third-party payment institute to identify the paymentaccount and forward the payment request to the server.

Additionally, this specification further provides a fifth paymentapparatus as shown in FIG. 12 . FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram of thefifth payment apparatus, according to an embodiment of thisspecification. The apparatus may include a receiving module 1201, adetermining module 1203, and a payment processing module 1205.

The receiving module 1201 may be configured to receive a payment requestincluding information of a payment account and order information sent bya third-party payment institute. The payment account may be associatedwith the third-party payment institute.

The determining module 1203 may be configured to determine acorresponding user identity according to the information of the paymentaccount.

The payment processing module 1205 may be configured to perform paymentprocess according to the user identity.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a payment device.The device may include a memory configured to store a payment program;and a processor configured to invoke the payment program in the memoryand perform operations. The operations may include: determining athird-party payment institute; sending, to a server, a request foracquiring a payment account, the payment account being associated with athird-party payment institute, and the request including informationabout the third-party payment institute; and receiving a payment accountreturned by the server, the payment account being assigned to the serverby the third-party payment institute.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a second paymentdevice. The second payment device may include: a memory configured tostore a payment program; and a processor configured to invoke thepayment program in the memory and perform operations. The operations mayinclude: receiving a request for acquiring a payment account sent by aclient, the payment account being associated with a third-party paymentinstitute, and the request including a user identity and informationabout the third-party payment institute; sending, to the third-partypayment institute, the request for acquiring the payment account;receiving a payment account returned by the third-party paymentinstitute; establishing a correspondence between the payment account andthe user identity, and storing the correspondence; and sending thepayment account to the client.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a third paymentdevice. The third payment device may include: a memory configured tostore a payment program; and a processor configured to invoke thepayment program in the memory and perform operations. The operations mayinclude: acquiring a payment account, the payment account beingassociated with a third-party payment institute; generating a digitalobject identifier (DOI) including information of a payment account; andpresenting the DOI, for a merchant to perform code scanning to acquirethe information of the payment account.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a fourth paymentdevice. The fourth payment device may include: a memory configured tostore a payment program; and a processor configured to invoke thepayment program in the memory and perform operations. The operations mayinclude scanning a digital object identifier (DOI) including informationof a payment account, the payment account being associated with athird-party payment institute; acquiring the information of the paymentaccount; and generating a payment request including the information ofthe payment account and order information, and sending the paymentrequest to the third-party payment institute for the third-party paymentinstitute to identify the payment account and forward the paymentrequest to a server.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a fifth paymentdevice. The device may include: a memory configured to store a paymentprogram; and a processor configured to invoke the payment program in thememory and perform operations. The operations may include: receiving apayment request including information of a payment account and orderinformation sent by a third-party payment institute, the payment accountbeing associated with the third-party payment institute; determining acorresponding user identity according to the information of the paymentaccount; and performing payment process according to the user identity.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a non-transitorycomputer storage medium storing computer-executable instructions. Thecomputer-executable instructions may be executed by a processor toperform operations. The operations may include: determining athird-party payment institute; sending, to a server, a request foracquiring a payment account, the payment account being associated withthe third-party payment institute, and the request including informationabout the third-party payment institute; and receiving a payment accountreturned by the server, the payment account being assigned to the serverby the third-party payment institute.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a secondnon-transitory computer storage medium storing computer-executableinstructions. The computer-executable instructions may be executed by aprocessor to perform operations. The operations may include: receiving arequest for acquiring a payment account sent by a client, the paymentaccount being associated with a third-party payment institute, and therequest including a user identity and information about the third-partypayment institute; sending, to the third-party payment institute, therequest for acquiring the payment account; receiving a payment accountreturned by the third-party payment institute; establishing acorrespondence between the payment account and the user identity, andstoring the correspondence; and sending the payment account to theclient.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a thirdnon-transitory computer storage medium storing computer-executableinstructions. The computer-executable instructions may be executed by aprocessor to perform operations. The operations may include: acquiring apayment account, the payment account being associated with a third-partypayment institute; generating a digital object identifier (DOI)including information of a payment account; and presenting the DOI, fora merchant to perform code scanning to acquire the information of thepayment account.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a fourthnon-transitory computer storage medium storing computer-executableinstructions. The computer-executable instructions may be executed by aprocessor to perform operations. The operations may include: scanning adigital object identifier (DOI) including information of a paymentaccount, the payment account being associated with a third-party paymentinstitute; acquiring the information of the payment account; andgenerating a payment request including the information of the paymentaccount and order information, and sending the payment request to thethird-party payment institute, for the third-party payment institute toidentify the payment account and forward the payment request to aserver.

Correspondingly, this specification further provides a fifthnon-transitory computer storage medium storing computer-executableinstructions. The computer-executable instructions may be executed by aprocessor to perform operations. The operations may include: receiving apayment request including information of a payment account and orderinformation sent by a third-party payment institute, the payment accountbeing associated with the third-party payment institute; determining acorresponding user identity according to the information of the paymentaccount; and performing payment process according to the user identity.

Embodiments in this specification are all described in a progressivemanner, and relevant parts in preceding embodiments may be referred tofor same or similar parts in some embodiments. Descriptions of eachembodiment focus on a difference from other embodiments. Apparatus,device, and medium embodiments are generally similar to correspondingmethod embodiments, and therefore are described briefly. Relevant partsin the method embodiments may be referred to for related parts inapparatus, device, and medium embodiments, details of which are notrepeatedly described herein for the sake of conciseness.

This concludes the description of the embodiments of this specification.Other embodiments may fall within the scope of the appended claims. Insome embodiments, the actions, steps, or modules recorded in the claimsmay be performed in sequences different from those in some embodimentsand an expected result may still be achieved. In addition, the processesdepicted in the accompanying drawings do not necessarily requirespecific sequences or consecutive sequences to achieve an expectedresult. In some implementations, multitasking and parallel processingmay be feasible or beneficial.

In the 1990s, improvements of a technology can be clearly distinguishedbetween hardware improvements (for example, improvements to a circuitstructure such as a diode, a transistor, a switch, etc.) and softwareimprovements (improvements to a method procedure). However, with thedevelopment of technology, improvements of many method procedures can beconsidered as direct improvements of hardware circuit structures.Designers generally may program an improved method procedure to ahardware circuit, to obtain a corresponding hardware circuit structure.Therefore, it does not mean that the improvement of a method procedurecannot be implemented by using a hardware entity module. For example, aprogrammable logic device (PLD) such as a field programmable gate array(FPGA) is a type of integrated circuit whose logic function isdetermined by a user through programming the device. The designers mayperform voluntary programming to integrate a digital system into asingle PLD without requiring a chip manufacturer to design and prepare adedicated integrated circuit chip. Moreover, nowadays, instead ofmanually making integrated circuit chips, this programming is mostlyimplemented by using “logic compiler” software, which is similar to thesoftware compiler used in program development and writing. The originalcode is written in a specific programming language before compiling, andthis language is referred to as a hardware description language (HDL).There are various kinds of HDLs, for example, advanced booleanexpression language (ABEL), altera hardware description language (AHDL),Confluence, Cornell University programming language (CUPL), HDCal, Javahardware description language (JHDL), Lava, Lola, MyHDL, PALASM, Rubyhardware description language (RHDL), and the like. Currently, the mostcommonly used HDLs are very-high-speed integrated circuit hardwaredescription language (VHDL) and Verilog. A person skilled in the artshould also understand that as long as a method procedure is logicallyprogrammed and then programmed to an integrated circuit by using theforegoing hardware description languages, a hardware circuit thatimplements the logical method procedure can be easily obtained.

The controller can be implemented in any suitable manner, for example,the controller can take the form of, for example, a microprocessor orprocessor and a computer-readable medium storing computer-readableprogram code (for example, software or firmware) executable by theprocessor, a logic gate, a switch, an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), a programmable logic controller and an embeddedmicrocontroller. Examples of the controller include, but are not limitedto, the following microcontrollers: ARC 625D, Atmel AT91SAM, MicrochipPIC18F26K20 and Silicone Labs C8051F320. The memory controller can alsobe implemented as part of the memory control logic. A person skilled inthe art will also appreciate that, in addition to implementing thecontroller in the form of pure computer-readable program code, it isalso possible to implement the controller in the form of a logic gate,switch, application-specific integrated circuit, programmable logiccontroller, and embedded microcontroller and other forms to achieve thesame function. Such a controller can thus be considered as a hardwarecomponent and apparatuses included therein for implementing variousfunctions can also be considered as structures inside the hardwarecomponent. Alternatively, apparatuses configured to implement variousfunctions can be considered as both software modules implementing themethod and structures inside the hardware component.

The system, the apparatus, the module or the unit described in theforegoing embodiments can be specifically implemented by a computer chipor an entity or implemented by a product having a certain function. Atypical implementation device is a computer. Specifically, the computercan be, for example, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a cellularphone, a camera phone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant, amedia player, a navigation device, an email device, a game console, atablet computer, a wearable device, or a combination of any of thesedevices.

For ease of description, when the apparatus is described, the apparatusis divided into units according to functions, which are separatelydescribed. Certainly, during implementation of some embodiments of thisspecification, the function of the units may be implemented in a samepiece of or multiple pieces of software and/or hardware.

A person skilled in the art should understand that some embodiments ofthis specification may be provided as a method, a system, or a computerprogram product. Therefore, this specification may use a form ofhardware only embodiments, software only embodiments, or embodimentswith a combination of software and hardware. Moreover, thisspecification may use a form of a computer program product that isimplemented on one or more computer-usable storage media (including butnot limited to a disk memory, a CD-ROM, an optical memory, and the like)that include computer-usable program code.

This specification is described with reference to the flowchart and/orblock diagram of the method, device (system), and computer programproduct of some embodiments of this specification. It should beunderstood that computer program instructions can implement eachprocedure and/or block in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams and acombination of procedures and/or blocks in the flowcharts and/or blockdiagrams. These computer program instructions may be provided to ageneral-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embeddedprocessor, or a processor of another programmable data processing deviceto generate a machine, so that an apparatus configured to implementfunctions specified in one or more procedures in the flowcharts and/orone or more blocks in the block diagrams is generated by usinginstructions executed by the general-purpose computer or the processorof another programmable data processing device.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable memory that can guide a computer or another programmable dataprocessing device to work in a specific manner, so that the instructionsstored in the computer readable memory generate a product including aninstruction apparatus, where the instruction apparatus implementsfunctions specified in one or more procedures in the flowcharts and/orone or more blocks in the block diagrams.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded into a computeror another programmable data processing device, so that a series ofoperation steps are performed on the computer or another programmabledata processing device to generate processing implemented by a computer,and instructions executed on the computer or another programmable dataprocessing device provide steps for implementing functions specified inone or more procedures in the flowcharts and/or one or more blocks inthe block diagrams.

In a typical configuration, the computer device includes one or moreprocessors (CPUs), an input/output interface, a network interface, and amemory.

The memory may include a form such as a persistent memory, arandom-access memory (RAM) and/or a non-transitory memory of computerreadable media, for example, a read-only memory (ROM) or a flash memory(RAM). The memory is an example of the computer readable medium.

The computer readable medium includes a persistent medium and anon-persistent medium, a removable medium and a non-removable medium,which may implement storage of information by using any method ortechnology. The information may be a computer readable instruction, adata structure, a module of a program or other data. Examples ofcomputer storage media include but are not limited to a phase changememory (PRAM), a static random access memory (SRAM), a dynamic randomaccess memory (DRAM), other type of random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-onlymemory (EEPROM), a flash memory or other memory technology, a compactdisc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disc (DVD) or otheroptical storage, a cassette magnetic tape, tape and disk storage orother magnetic storage device or any other non-transmission media thatmay be configured to store information that a computing device canaccess. Based on the definition in this disclosure, thecomputer-readable medium does not include transitory computer readablemedia (transitory media), such as a modulated data signal and a carrier.

It should also be noted that the terms “include,” “comprise” and anyother variants mean to cover the non-exclusive inclusion. Thereby, theprocess, method, article, or device which include a series of elementsnot only include those elements, but also include other elements whichare not clearly listed, or include the inherent elements of the process,method, article and device. Without further limitation, the elementdefined by a phrase “include one” does not exclude other same elementsin the process, method, article or device which include the element.

Some embodiments of this specification can be described in the generalcontext of computer-executable instructions executed by a computer, forexample, a program module. Generally, the program module includes aroutine, a program, an object, a component, a data structure, and thelike for executing a particular task or implementing a particularabstract data type. Some embodiments of this specification may also bepracticed in distributed computing environments in which tasks areperformed by remote processing devices that are connected by using acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, theprogram module may be located in both local and remote computer storagemedia including storage devices.

Some embodiments in this specification are all described in aprogressive manner, for same or similar parts in some embodiments, referto these embodiments, and descriptions of each embodiment focus on adifference from other embodiments. Especially, a system embodiment isbasically similar to a method embodiment, and therefore is describedbriefly; for related parts, reference may be made to partialdescriptions in the method embodiment.

The foregoing descriptions are merely embodiments in this specificationand are not intended to limit this specification. For a person skilledin the art, various modifications and changes may be made to someembodiments of this specification. Any modification, equivalentreplacement, or improvement made without departing from the spirit andprinciple of some embodiments of this specification shall fall withinthe scope of the claims of this specification.

What is claimed is:
 1. A payment method, comprising: receiving, by aserver from a client terminal, a request for acquiring a payment accountfor a transaction on a merchant terminal, wherein the request comprisesa third-party payment institute corresponding to a geographical locationof a user and identity information of the user, wherein the paymentaccount is associated and compatible with the third-party paymentinstitute; identifying, by the server and based on the identityinformation of the user, the corresponding account of the user differentfrom the payment account; obtaining, by the server, from the third-partypayment institute, the payment account based on the request; sending, tothe client terminal, the payment account for generating a paymentdigital object identifier (DOI) scannable by the merchant terminal byencoding information of the payment account; receiving, by the server, apayment request from the merchant terminal scanning the payment DOI,wherein the payment request comprises the information of the paymentaccount and order information of the transaction; determining, by theserver and based on the information of the payment account in thepayment request, the corresponding account of the user; and completing,by the server, the transaction on the corresponding account of the userbased on the order information of the transaction, wherein thetransaction includes transferring of a monetary balance from thecorresponding account of the user to a merchant account associated withthe merchant terminal.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:establishing, by the server, a correspondence between the paymentaccount and the identity information of the user, and storing thecorrespondence; and sending, by the server, the payment account to theclient terminal.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:detecting, by the client terminal, the geographical location of theuser; and determining, by the client terminal and based on thegeographical location of the user, the third-party payment institute. 4.The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the clientterminal, a user instruction; and determining, by the client terminaland based on the user instruction, the third-party payment institute. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein the DOI is a 2-dimensional Quick Response(2-D QR) code, and the 2-D QR code uses one of Code 16K standard, Code49 standard, PDF417 standard, and MicroPDF417 standard.
 6. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: sending, by the merchant terminal, thepayment request to the third-party payment institute for the third-partypayment institute to identify the payment account; and receiving, by theserver, from the third-party payment institute and after the paymentaccount is successfully identified by the third-party payment institute,the payment request.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the paymentaccount is a gift card account.
 8. One or more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media storing instructions that, when executedby one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to performoperations comprising: receiving, from a client terminal, a request foracquiring a payment account for a transaction on a merchant terminal,wherein the request comprises a third-party payment institutecorresponding to a geographical location of a user and identityinformation of the user, wherein the payment account is associated andcompatible with the third-party payment institute; identifying based onthe identity information of the user, a corresponding account of theuser different from the payment account, the corresponding account beingincompatible with the third-party payment institute; obtaining, from thethird-party payment institute, the payment account based on the request;sending, to the client terminal, the payment account for generating apayment digital object identifier (DOI) scannable by the merchantterminal by encoding information of the payment account via anextensible markup language (xml) format; receiving a payment requestfrom the merchant terminal scanning the payment DOI, wherein the paymentrequest comprises the information of the payment account and orderinformation of the transaction; determining, based on the information ofthe payment account in the payment request, the corresponding account ofthe user; and completing the transaction on the corresponding account ofthe user based on the order information of the transaction, wherein thetransaction includes transferring of a monetary balance from thecorresponding account of the user to a merchant account associated withthe merchant terminal.
 9. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: establishing a correspondence between the paymentaccount and the identity information of the user, and storing thecorrespondence; and sending the payment account to the client terminal.10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media ofclaim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: detecting, by theclient terminal, the geographical location of the user; and determining,based on the geographical location of the user, the third-party paymentinstitute.
 11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: receiving auser instruction; and determining, based on the user instruction, thethird-party payment institute.
 12. The one or more non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the DOI is a2-dimensional Quick Response (2-D QR) code, and the 2-D QR code uses oneof Code 16K standard, Code 49 standard, PDF417 standard, and MicroPDF417standard.
 13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise: sending thepayment request to the third-party payment institute for the third-partypayment institute to identify the payment account; and receiving fromthe third-party payment institute and after the payment account issuccessfully identified by the third-party payment institute, thepayment request.
 14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 8, wherein the payment account is a gift cardaccount.
 15. A system, comprising one or more processors and one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructionsthat, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system toperform operations comprising: receiving, from a client terminal, arequest for acquiring a payment account for a transaction on a merchantterminal, wherein the request comprises a third-party payment institutecorresponding to a geographical location of a user and identityinformation of the user wherein the payment account is associated andcompatible with the third-party payment institute; identifying based onthe identity information of the user, a corresponding account of theuser different from the payment account, the corresponding account beingincompatible with the third-party payment institute; obtaining, from thethird-party payment institute, the payment account based on the request;sending, to the client terminal, the payment account for generating apayment digital object identifier (DOI) scannable by the merchantterminal by encoding information of the payment account via anextensible markup language (xml) format; receiving a payment requestfrom the merchant terminal scanning the payment DOI, wherein the paymentrequest comprises the information of the payment account and orderinformation of the transaction; determining, based on the information ofthe payment account in the payment request, the corresponding account ofthe user; and completing the transaction on the corresponding account ofthe user based on the order information of the transaction, wherein thetransaction includes transferring of a monetary balance from thecorresponding account of the user to a merchant account associated withthe merchant terminal.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein theoperations further comprise: establishing a correspondence between thepayment account and the identity information of the user, and storingthe correspondence; and sending the payment account to the clientterminal.